The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a spinal facet fusion device and in particular to a percutaneous wire guide assisted spinal facet fusion device.
Existing techniques for spinal facet fusion involve placing a block of material, most commonly bone, into a prepared facet joint. Facet joint fusion provides the biological process necessary to achieve a fusion at the joint. Placing posterior instrumentation alone will often not result in fusion and can cause a clinical issue that results in pain or additional surgery. Therefore, the combination of facet joint fusion and posterior instrumentation, such as pedicle screws for example, provides the necessary combination that maximizes likelihood of achieving solid bony fusion.
Minimally invasive (MI) spinal fusion has gained increasing popularity. MI fusion techniques provide advantages in reducing muscle disruption, blood loss and pain. The commonest technique of MI spinal fusion is placement of pedicle screws through small percutaneous skin incisions. Placement of the pedicle screw may block access to the facet joint and eliminate the opportunity to achieve biological fusion. Therefore, it is desirable to perform facet fusion prior to placement of the pedicle screws.
Difficulties may occur when performing MI spinal fusion using percutaneous pedicle screws due to the introduction of a separate device in or around the screw in order to gain facet fusion. This disrupts the work flow of the surgery and may lead to an increase in soft tissue trauma. Further, placement of pedicle screws alone, without posterior fusion may be a non-reimbursable procedure that may result in increased medical cost for the patient.
Accordingly, while existing MI spinal fusion techniques are suitable for their intended purpose the need for improvement remains, particularly in providing a device for spinal fusion through the same incision used for screw placement.